Northside's Rowland wants discus, shot 2-A gold

Rick Scoppe-Sports Editor/The Daily News

Friday

May 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM

At 5-foot-9 and weighing in at about 165 pounds, Northside High School senior James Rowland looks more like a sprinter than a teenager who finds sending the shot put and discus soaring into the far blue yonder more his speed.

At 5-foot-9 and weighing in at about 165 pounds, Northside High School senior James Rowland looks more like a sprinter than a teenager who finds sending the shot put and discus soaring into the far blue yonder more his speed.

Rowland enjoys that he doesn’t match the door-with-a-head physique of a shot putter but often winds up outdistancing his competitors in the shot and discus.

“I like to think I surprise them, honestly. That’s what I go there for,” the 17-year-old Rowland said. “I like to see people’s faces.”

The truth is within the high school track and field circle few are likely surprised by Rowland any more given his performance in the concrete circle and his pedigree — his brother Kenneth won the state title in the shot in 2009 and was second a year earlier while finishing fifth in the discus.

The younger Rowland claimed the NCHSAA 2-A East Regional in both events Saturday for the second straight year, this time winning the discus with a throw of 149 feet, 9 inches and the shot at 51-4 1/4.

Given that, he’s a good bet to bring home a gold medal in one, if not both, events today in the state 2-A championships at N.C. A&T State University in Greensboro. Rowland has finished second in the discus the last two years with throws of 152-2 (2012) and 142-9 while coming in second last year in the shot (52-6) and fourth in 2011 (47-7 1/4).

Is this his year to match, or exceed, his brother?

“If I could grab these two, I’d say I kind of have bragging rights,” said Rowland, who won the gold indoors in the shot in 2012 (52-3 1/2) and was third this year (52-2). “It is my time to get two more state (championships).

“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve peaked yet. But we’ll find that out when I go to state. When I go to state, honestly I don’t have any concerns.”

Rowland said he plans to make a statement with his initial throw and let his competitors try to match him, saying he wants to win “with my first throw.”

“I played around too much at regionals. I kind of scared myself,” he said. “I’m going to go into state, win it on my first throw and then kill it every other throw.”

And as for the rest of the field …

“They’re going to have to kill themselves because that’s just how it is,” Rowland said. “I’m going to get my name on the (school’s state championship) banner two more times, two more gold medals.”

Rowland comes from a throwing family. Along with his brothers, his father, Mike, is his coach both at Northside and with The Pride Track and Field program based in Jacksonville. Rowland’s first memories of throwing are from Japan when he was about 7 years old and his father was stationed there.

“We’d go out where the big pavilions are and just throw off the side of those where the people have all their parties and cookouts,” he said. “We’d just sit there and throw a 6-pound shot put.”

Rowland didn’t take up the discus until about the seventh grade. In fact, for a time it looked like he might be a distance runner — his brother Kenneth made it to the state championships in the 100 as well as the shot and discus.

And to this day James is still prone to getting yanked into a relay at Northside.

“I’ve done a relay every year. They’ll come over and grab me and throw me in the 4x8. What track meet was it, conference?” he asked his father. “They made me run the 4x4.”

But the throws are where his heart is — and where he puts his effort. In preparation for the state championships, he threw every day, although he was more careful not to overdo it given the magnitude of what was ahead.

And he took a week off weight lifting, just to be safe.

“Regionals and states, totally opposite,” he said. “You would throw until we got tired (before a regular-season meet).”

Rowland said he likes the shot put a bit better than the discus at least in part because “it’s been coming along.” Translated: He’s adding distance while he feels he’s hit a plateau, at least for the moment.

“When I started throwing discus I started catching up with my brother. He started giving up on it. I was like, ‘Man, this is going to be my event,’” the younger Rowland said. “The shot put I was pretty all right at it, but I wasn’t very good. I didn’t have the size. Normally the bigger guys are better at shot put and discus is more technique.

“Shot put, I think you get away with a little bit of muscle. With discus you can’t really do that. With shot put, my technique’s starting to come into place. I’ve been stuck at the kind of same distance for the past three years. with shot put, it’s been getting there.”

And he hopes getting there will end with him bringing home two gold medals today after coming up just shot the past two years.

“With this state (championship),” he said. “I’m more confident going in know that I have a chance to most likely win shot and discus. I’m more confident than I was.”

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